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Vol.:(0123456789)
Natural Hazards (2022) 114:2357–2385
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05475-9
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Indicator‑based approach forflood vulnerability assessment
inancient heritage city ofHoi An, Central Region ofVietnam
ThuyLinhNguyen1,2 · ChisatoAsahi3 · ThiAnTran4 · NgocHanhLe5
Received: 15 February 2022 / Accepted: 28 June 2022 / Published online: 17 July 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2022
Abstract
The increasing unpredictable floods due to the effect of climate change across regions of
Vietnam have threaten the country’s socio-economic development goals at local, regional
and national scales. This paper employs indicator-based approach to calculate Flood Vul-
nerability Index and generates vulnerability maps that reflect the spatial distribution of
flood vulnerability in the Central region of Vietnam, which is the hardest hit flood region
and home to many sites of great cultural-historical value. Data were collected from Hoi
An’s 2020 statistical yearbook, digital elevation model, land use map, open street map and
from surveying experts and civil servants at the city level (representatives of the City Peo-
ple’s Committee, the Center for Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation of Hoi
An) and at ward/commune level (representatives of 12 wards and communes). GIS tech-
niques and analytical hierarchy process were applied to analysis the obtained data and gen-
erate three scenarios that reflect the impact of vulnerability’s components. The findings
indicate that number of organizations in disaster prevention and historical site preservation,
road density, the presence of historical sites, flood frequency and average elevation are the
key factors affecting the city’s vulnerability to flood hazard in the area of cultural herit-
age. The empirical results in Hoi An also indicate the importance of the number of poor
households as an necessary factor when considering the sensitivity to flood in developing
countries. In addition, this study distinguishes the impact of vulnerability’s components by
generating different scenarios which clearly proof that having more floods does not always
mean high vulnerability and vice versa. More importantly, by looking into the reasons
(either transportation, education or other indicators) that leads to the gap between Flood
Vulnerability Index in different scenarios, the paper subsequently identifies measures for
each locality, whereby the governmental investment budget can be prioritized effectively.
Keywords Flood vulnerability index· Indicator-based approach· Cultural heritage area·
GIS· Analytic hierarchy process· Vietnam
* Thuy Linh Nguyen
thuylinh@neu.edu.vn
Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.